GoSub for INTV

[Cybearg]

In case you're wondering whether this works on a real INTV or not. It even works on an INTV2, which is more than I can say for some cartridges (cough *coleco*)

 

Is there a significant risk that games WON'T work? I'd think that being designed in IntyBasic would essentially guarantee compatibility unless you start doing a lot of weird ASM tweaks. Is that not the case?

[+nanochess]

Is there a significant risk that games WON'T work? I'd think that being designed in IntyBasic would essentially guarantee compatibility unless you start doing a lot of weird ASM tweaks. Is that not the case?

 

IntyBASIC is essentially compatible with all Intellivision systems unless (as you say) you start coding strange assembler code.

[+atari2600land]

Changed level 17 and added level 24.

Edited May 30, 2015 by atari2600land

[+atari2600land]

Level 25 is done. Just five more levels and two different endings left to design.

Edited May 30, 2015 by atari2600land

[pimpmaul69]

A man with many updates. Cant wait until it is finished. Awesome that you kept us updated

[+atari2600land]

Here is another update. Level 26. A code rewrite here. I got tired of spelling out the numbers, so I shortened it to just digits (i.e. "17" instead of "seventeen.") Once i did, the binary shrank to 10.5k (it was 12.5)! So I think I'll add a few more rooms, so I'll probably have 33 instead of just 30. I think more levels trumps spelling out the numbers here.

Edited May 30, 2015 by atari2600land

[Rev]

What is an average time to compete each level? But they do get harder as the game progresses right?

 

Keep up the good work!

[+atari2600land]

I don't know the average time to complete a level. I've never timed it before. But they do get harder as the game goes on.

[+DZ-Jay]

Here is another update. Level 26. A code rewrite here. I got tired of spelling out the numbers, so I shortened it to just digits (i.e. "17" instead of "seventeen.") Once i did, the binary shrank to 10.5k (it was 12.5)! So I think I'll add a few more rooms, so I'll probably have 33 instead of just 30. I think more levels trumps spelling out the numbers here.

 

Alright! Time for me to dedicate some lurv to GoSub. I think the last level I played was in the teens.

 

I only have one question... did you put back the sub in the title screen?

[+DZ-Jay]

I only have one question... did you put back the sub in the title screen?

 

Oh noes!!!111one I see that you have not.

[+DZ-Jay]

OK, I made it to level 14. Wasn't there a way to warp to levels?

 

Anyway, I like the game. It feels reasonably responsive, it's cute, and it's challenging and engaging. It has great re-playability. The changing levels provide enough puzzle variations to keep my interest, which is always a good thing. This is similar to the way classic games like Ms. Pac-Man used to work: you have a set of playing mechanics that are easily learned right in the first level, and the challenge comes from the dynamics of the level and the enemies, without having to learn anything new. And we know how addictive those games were!

 

I do have a couple of suggestions to polish the game a bit more:

• Can the seaweed animation be made faster than 30 Hz? If so, I could help you make a nicer, more "seaweedy" animation to give the game a more organic and less "blocky" look.
• Play the ping sound effect regularly during game-play.
• When you die, wait for a few more milliseconds before resetting the screen. It looks too abrupt right now.
• Add the sub to the title screen: make it run silently under the Octopus-Title banner, just like submarines do.

[+atari2600land]

Type the level number you want to go to in the second controller. I think the seaweed can have some more animation frames. I'll work some more on the other suggestions.

[+DZ-Jay]

Type the level number you want to go to in the second controller. I think the seaweed can have some more animation frames. I'll work some more on the other suggestions.

 

 

OK, I'll see what I can come up with.

[+atari2600land]

I can't make the sub appear in the title screen. Apparently you can't display sprites in Mode 1, or something...

[+atari2600land]

The seaweed to design is 8x8. Make sure the total frames of animation is a power of 2 (i.e. 4) Also, I worked on a ping sound during the game and making the death last longer.

Edited May 30, 2015 by atari2600land

[freewheel]

I can't make the sub appear in the title screen. Apparently you can't display sprites in Mode 1, or something...

 

You absolutely can, but the register values are slightly different in FGBG vs color stack.

[+Tarzilla]

I can't make the sub appear in the title screen. Apparently you can't display sprites in Mode 1, or something...

 

Where did you get that from? Check the code in the last PM I sent you weeks ago, that title screen has all 8 sprites in motion. You might have to include the +$0200 in the X parameter in order to make the sprite visible as in:

 

Sprite 0,SubX+$0200,.....

 

but there is no display restriction on Sprites in Mode 1. If there was none of the stuff I've been working on since IntyBasic was introduced would work.

[+Tarzilla]

OK, I made it to level 14. Wasn't there a way to warp to levels?

• When you die, wait for a few more milliseconds before resetting the screen. It looks too abrupt right now.

 

I think the abruptness comes more from the lack of visual feedback because there is no death animation, imagine if Pacman or Christmas Carol simply reset the screen after each death instead of showing the classic death animation that they do.

[catsfolly]

I can't make the sub appear in the title screen. Apparently you can't display sprites in Mode 1, or something...

You need to add the sprite gram definitions to the title screen.

DrawTitleScreen: Procedure

	WAIT
     	DEFINE 0,16,titlescreen_bitmaps_0
    	WAIT
   	DEFINE 16,16,titlescreen_bitmaps_1
   	WAIT
    	DEFINE 32,11,titlescreen_bitmaps_2
    	WAIT
	DEFINE 50,8,sprites 
	wait
	SCREEN titlescreen_cards
	wait
End

Then it can work:

 

 

Catsfolly

[+atari2600land]

OK, got it to work. I also added a little death animation. Tell me what you think.

Edited May 30, 2015 by atari2600land

[catsfolly]

OK, got it to work. I also added a little death animation. Tell me what you think.

It's better than before, but I think some kind of exploding death animation would be better.

 

The "ping" sound is playing too often for my taste. I feel like I am in an posh department store and the store clerks aren't answering their page...

[freewheel]

I actually kinda like the death animation. Reminds me of what a lot of games did back in the day. Besides, would a submarine actually explode if it touched seaweed? This isn't a Michael Bay movie

 

Agree on the ping noise. It's pretty nicely done but should repeat about half as often as it does. You could try extending its duration by maybe 25-50% and see how that sounds, but don't have it sound off so often.

Edited October 27, 2014 by freeweed

[+atari2600land]

How about this?

Edited May 30, 2015 by atari2600land

[+DZ-Jay]

Wow! I took a break to watch a movie and missed a flurry of conversation! I'm glad that this game is getting all this attention, it is a pretty cool game.

 

The seaweed to design is 8x8. Make sure the total frames of animation is a power of 2 (i.e. 4)

 

Got it. Will do something today.

 

 

I think the abruptness comes more from the lack of visual feedback because there is no death animation, imagine if Pacman or Christmas Carol simply reset the screen after each death instead of showing the classic death animation that they do.

 

+1 Bonus points for mentioning Christmas Carol and Pac-Man on the same sentence.

 

OK, got it to work. I also added a little death animation. Tell me what you think.

 

I like it, and I also like that it sort of drifts away, just like a wrecked submarine would. I would suggest adding perhaps one more frame of animation to it, nothing fancy, just a smaller blob, so that it looks like its disintegrating.

 

Personally, I'm a fan of fancy, smooth, and very rich animations (as attested by Christmas Carol), but in lieu of that, I'll take a two frame animation over a flat, unchanging sprite.

 

 

How about this?

 

Better! The ping is not as annoying, but I would space it a bit more, maybe by one or two more seconds?

 

 

 

OK, got it to work. I also added a little death animation. Tell me what you think.

 

Nice but... I much rather prefer it under the title, I think it would work better there. Also, maybe delay its entrance a bit, perhaps a third into the song, just to give it a sense of lurking on the hunt, silent running; rather than just "here I am, I'm a sub!"

 

 

 

 

Yup!

[+atari2600land]

The reason I put the sub at the top is because there is nothing up there. But I put the sub at the bottom anyway and delayed its entrance on the screen. I also added another wreck sprite so now there are two.

Edited May 30, 2015 by atari2600land